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Posts: 1284
Mar 30 09 5:59 AM
Uncle Sam
Russ we need to look into the change in perspective for the RAF here too. Off the top of my head, I'd suggest given the posture of the LW here, they'd be focused on harassment, causing the maximum mayhem for the minimum investment in assets. So Phase 1 looks like folling something close to the OTL path with a Battle for the Channel. UK coastal shipping is the easiest target they have that can be persued by a fighter based force, its one the British will try and defend and tends towards forcing the defender into things like standing patrols and the like. They won't have the Stuka's to comit (tied up with the Army), so the strikes are going to be a lot weaker in terms of tonnage sunk, but there'd be lots of pepper-potted coasters. The RAF is NOT going to send its light bomber formations to be butchered over France by daylight, well not more than a couple of times anyway. They need fighter support which simply is not possiable (lack of range), so that only leaves night operations. If there is going to be any support from the RAF it looks like Bomber Command is in the frame, instead of scattering bombs at random over Germany, they'll be dropping them on France instead - sorry guys. On the other hand it puts the skates under Whilwind and Beaufighter, and gives Mosquito another boost. Since there's no barge concentrations to worry about, the light bombers will be getting itno the night work too along side the heavies, but I'm not seeing them working together that often, different range bands with the need to spread as much trouble as far as possiable would imply using the lights to cover the areas they can, so alowing the heavies to concentrate on more distant targets. There's a political dimention here (RAF internal), as this would seem to give BC a good opertunity to sweep up ALL bombers into its warm embrace, but the counterpoise is simple inertia. BC would naturally like to convert any/all light bomber SQN's that came it way into 'proper' bombers, but there's not enough being produced to convert them. So the light bomber SQN's have to keep flying light bombers, and while they are, they don't fit into Bomber Command grand plans. Plus the imperitives of tactical air support are being driven home even harder in FFO by the enlogated BoF, with a return to the continet realistically on the cards in the not too distant future. I'd predict that if the light bomber force is sent against inland targets at night, their tactics could evolve in either of two ways. If they continue to try formation SQN strikes, they will run into Nav issues and either work something out or fail. The other side would be adopting BC's independant routing to a designated target, but that is pissing in the wind given their payload. They would be better off hunting targets of opertunity enroute to a default target. That is 'fly to XXX and bomb it - but if you can identidy anything better on the way kill it.' Dropping 4x 250lbers on a marshalling yard is comparable to doing over a truck column and in this instance messing up the trucks is a lot more useful. Meanwhile Fighter Command is babysitting rusty colliers rounding Dungness. - hmm bed time, I'll have to get back to this.
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